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posted by janrinok on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the this-is-safer? dept.

[...] It is clear that a significant minority of British drivers put their time and their 'needs' above the safety of other road users and pedestrians. In a few decades, the driverless car will be perfected and the driven car must be made obsolete, preferably by law.

Until then the Government and the insurance industry should take radical steps to help residents of rural and urban communities reclaim their neighbourhoods from the lorries, the lunatics - and those Great British Motorists who like toddlers think they can do what they like, and explode with rage and indignation when questioned about it.

  1. Black boxes compulsory in every vehicle, with improved technology that detects speed limit breaking and careless or aggressive driving.

  2. Insurance companies encouraged to hike premiums immediately and punitively as bad driving is revealed.

  3. Insurance companies obliged to hand over to DVLA and / or police all data that reveals traffic offences and dangerous driving.

  4. Legal framework to allow prosecution and driving bans relating to offences revealed by black boxes.

  5. Legal changes to encourage use of dashcam / helmet-cam / CCTV evidence to prosecute motorists.

  6. Comprehensive review of 30mph speed limits, with local consultations on which should be lowered to 20mph.

  7. Limit revs to 3,000rpm on all vehicles - as condition of passing MOT - to cut noise and dangerous acceleration.

  8. Funding for technology that will limit all vehicles automatically to the local speed limit (and in the case of national speed limits, a safe speed for the road conditions); and will prevent heavy goods vehicles from using inappropriate rural and urban roads.

Source: This is Money


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by bradley13 on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:23PM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:23PM (#391131) Homepage Journal

    Dunno what the political agenda here is, but...what an idiot. Being a geezer, I am a pretty conservative driver anymore. Get off my lawn, and all that. Even so:

    1. Black boxes compulsory in every vehicle, with improved technology that detects speed limit breaking and careless or aggressive driving.

    A black box ought to only be useful in case of an accident. But there are already insurance companies putting these in cars, and accessing the data on a regular basis. A privacy nightmare. Oh, and who gets to define what counts as careless or aggressive?

    2. Insurance companies encouraged to hike premiums immediately and punitively as bad driving is revealed.

    Ah, see, here we go. Bend over and kiss your privacy goodbye. I mean, they would *never* sell your information to advertisers or anything.

    3. Insurance companies obliged to hand over to DVLA and / or police all data that reveals traffic offences and dangerous driving.

    Real time traffic tickets? I read a dystopian novel a long time ago, where the premise was perfect surveillance: no crime, because crime was automatically detected in real time. Minority Report also goes in this direction. What a horrible world...

    4. Legal framework to allow prosecution and driving bans relating to offences revealed by black boxes.

    Right, see number 3.

    5. Legal changes to encourage use of dashcam / helmet-cam / CCTV evidence to prosecute motorists.

    Right, see number 3 again.

    6. Comprehensive review of 30mph speed limits, with local consultations on which should be lowered to 20mph.

    Pretty over-specific. I assume this refers to his particular country. That said, reviewing speed limits is always a good thing, so this may be his only halfway reasonable point.

    7. Limit revs to 3,000rpm on all vehicles - as condition of passing MOT - to cut noise and dangerous acceleration.

    Somebody is showing their ignorance. 3000rpm is a meaningless figure, because it all depends on the engine. A good old American muscle car will lay rubber at less than that. My old VW bug might not even move.

    8. Funding for technology that will limit all vehicles automatically to the local speed limit (and in the case of national speed limits, a safe speed for the road conditions); and will prevent heavy goods vehicles from using inappropriate rural and urban roads.

    Great. Real world anecdote: My uncle was having a heart attack. His son tossed him in the car and raced to the hospital. Local speed limits were not his first priority, nor should they have been. Had he be stopped by the police, I would like to hope they would have led the way with their lights flashing. Also, see number 3 above, regarding continual surveillance.

    Idiot.

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  • (Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:36PM

    by Knowledge Troll (5948) on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:36PM (#391142) Homepage Journal

    Somebody is showing their ignorance. 3000rpm is a meaningless figure, because it all depends on the engine.

    Yeah but it probably means something in either his, his parent's, or that car he saw on 5th Gear some time. The author exudes ignorance all over the place.

    Talk about not being able to see past your own bumper. What a moron-douche.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by dyingtolive on Sunday August 21 2016, @07:38PM

    by dyingtolive (952) on Sunday August 21 2016, @07:38PM (#391176)

    What bugs me most about 7 and 8 is that, in addition to it being arbitrary, they're also arguably MORE dangerous at times. Onramps (at least here in the states) are often not long enough to have a leisurely increase in speed up to the speed limit of the actual interstate (nevermind what speed everyone on the interstate FEELS like going).

    This kind of feels like idle do-gooding for it's own sake.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @10:06PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @10:06PM (#391273)

      Twenty is plenty!

    • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Sunday August 21 2016, @11:57PM

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Sunday August 21 2016, @11:57PM (#391346)

      I actually try to avoid WOT (Wide open trottle) while merging.

      If you are running at your power limit, you have no room to speed up a little it you need to.

      Merge lanes are often on ramps to help you accelerate.

      Of course, all bets are off if you rev limiter is set at 3000rpm :P

      • (Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Monday August 22 2016, @01:46PM

        by DutchUncle (5370) on Monday August 22 2016, @01:46PM (#391611)

        >>> Merge lanes are often on ramps to help you accelerate.

        But unfortunately, sometimes due to the age of the roads and sometimes due to construction or additional guardrails or the speed of traffic or other changes from the original design, many such ramps are nowhere near long enough to accelerate unless you floor it. There is a particular entrance to a 55 mph restricted-access highway that I use on a regular basis which requires very quick merging. Due to the history of Northern NJ, there are multiple divided highways with driveways opening directly onto the road at right angles. Even some major shopping centers have short deceleration/acceleration areas.

  • (Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Sunday August 21 2016, @08:48PM

    by Capt. Obvious (6089) on Sunday August 21 2016, @08:48PM (#391217)

    I would imagine that your cousin could have (before the police started pulling him over, or in response to the lights behind him) called 911 and gotten through to dispatch. Preventing that 5-10 minute delay as the cop runs your plates, etc. before coming to the window.

    I've never done that, but I've heard of people (esp. single women) call 911 so they can relay to the officer they were looking for a "safe spot" to pull over. One lit or public or similar.

    No idea if that's true or not.

  • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @09:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @09:28PM (#391252)

    DVLA == Driver and Vehicle Licensing[1] Agency
    This side of the pond, we typically call that "DMV" (Division|Department of Motor[2] Vehicles).

    [1] Sometimes spelled with a C instead of an S.
    [2] It bugs me when an internal combustion engine is called a "motor".

    I'm assuming "MOT" is Ministry of Transportation.

    .
    3000rpm is a meaningless figure, because it all depends on the engine

    Gearing is also significant.
    Back in the days when drag strips intrigued me, there were some guys with a 6.88:1 rear end ratio.
    At the far extreme, Pontiac offered a 2.56:1 differential.

    Heh. I once owned a '68 Camaro with a 250CID 6-cylinder and 4.11 gears.
    The single-leaf springs had trouble keeping the tires in contact with the road when I really got on it.

    Besides rear end ratios, the Muncie "Rock Crusher" close-ratio 4-speed transmission had a first gear ratio of 2.20:1.
    Your typical street machine has a significantly larger spread.

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  • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Monday August 22 2016, @01:44AM

    by jdavidb (5690) on Monday August 22 2016, @01:44AM (#391392) Homepage Journal

    6. Comprehensive review of 30mph speed limits, with local consultations on which should be lowered to 20mph.

    Pretty over-specific. I assume this refers to his particular country. That said, reviewing speed limits is always a good thing, so this may be his only halfway reasonable point.

    He loses for suggesting the 20 mph speed limits, though. 20 mph speed limits are almost always insanely too low unless there's a school zone involved or similar.

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